Omnia: A Wildfire Starts from a Single Spark
by Althea SaDiablo
Summary: The palace daily becomes more dangerous as tensions between the six princes rise. In the sweltering summer heat, the slightest provocation is enough to send the pot boiling over. And the reign of Emperor Seien begins in his brother's blood . . .
1. O Si Sic Omnia Timeline

**Author's Note:** This is the timeline from Omnia, with all of the fics currently posted on ff . net listed. My co-writer, Yamino Majo, can also be found on this site. Hopefully this story listing will give you a chance to put all the events in order in your head, since we're not posting the various stories chronologically.

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**O Si Sic Omnia: Timeline**

**0 year:** Shi Seien born

**7 year: **Shi Ryuuki born

**14 year:** "A Double-Edged Sword Cuts Both Ways," Althea SaDiablo

**17 year:** "A Leopard Can't Change Its Spots," part 1, Althea SaDiablo

**18 year:** "A Wildfire Starts from a Single Spark," Althea SaDiablo

**26 year:** "A Leopard Can't Change Its Spots," part 2, Althea SaDiablo  
"A Capable Falcon Hides His Talons," Yamino Majo


	2. Part 1

**Author's Note: **This is another of the series set in Majo and my O Si Sic Omnia Alternate Universe. Please do look up the other stories for greater context. There are two further chapters to this story, which will be posted later on. Enjoy!

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The tension hanging over the palace simmered in the air, as if it were trying to overmatch the oppressive heat. The normal bustle of the courts was subdued, almost furtive, and conversation between officials had become sullen and short. The mechanics of running the Empire had slowed to a snail's pace with the onset of the Emperor's illness, and the consequences were far-reaching but largely ignored.

Everyone's thoughts were on the Emperor, and the issue of his health weighed heavily on the minds of all the palace officials, high and low. It was whispered, soft as the nonexistent summer wind, that the Emperor might not return to his duties at all. It was pointedly not whispered that perhaps his long and tumultuous reign was coming to an end-- but the thought didn't need to be spoken. It floated in the air like the shimmer of heat, and reflected in the eyes of everyone in the palace.

Already the great families were moving. Their shifting was like the restlessness of sleeping lions on the cusp of waking, sluggish but brimming with potential danger. They wanted only for a trigger to bring them to perilous alertness-- and that trigger lay in the hands of the royal princes.

The princes knew it, too; there was no lethargy there despite the heat. Where they walked, eyes followed constantly. The sense of danger was the most concentrated in the presence of the Shi family members, electricity that gathered and prickled in the air. When any two of the princes met, conflicting fields rubbed and sparked.

It was only a matter of time, Seien knew, before lightning would crackle through the air, and the storm would break on them all.

No one had moved overtly yet, but he knew that under the veneer of inactivity lay a frenetic hive of secret meetings, bribes and counter-bribes, promises and lies. He felt people watching him at all times, no matter his activity, judging and weighing his every action. And behind every gaze lurked a threat. The company of others was dangerous, but then so was privacy. Privacy meant an opportunity for his enemies to take advantage of, and his enemies were everywhere. Even the food that the servants brought him was untrustworthy. He'd long since grown used to being hungry.

His one consolation was that Ryuuki seemed to be below anyone's notice. He had yet to even hear his brother's name brought up, even in the most casual-seeming conversations (very few conversations around the palace were casual anymore). He was desperate to keep it that way, desperate to avoid hearing his brother's name spoken in anyone's voice other than his own. He had encouraged Ryuuki to spend the majority of his time in the archives, among the dust and the books, since it was the most out-of-the-way place he could think of. Ryuuki was not a target, since no one else gave the sixth and youngest of the princes a second thought, but Seien knew that his own prominence was more a threat to his younger brother than Ryuuki's own status. The thought of Ryuuki drawing attention due to his connection to Seien broke the second prince's already light sleep with nightmares, and the worry that Ryuuki might end up taking poison meant for his older brother was enough to quiet the twinges of his stomach. He was torn constantly between the need to keep Ryuuki close, where he could be protected, and the need to distance himself from his brother so that Ryuuki would continue to escape interest.

That he himself should manage to go unnoticed was impossible. Even before his father's illness he had been approached by numerous officials and members of the various families, trying to sound out his plans and learn his intentions. He knew the calculation that lay behind their falseness and flattery, and it felt slimy and putrid to him. He refused to play to it, refused to dirty himself with it as he knew his brothers did. He wondered if the other princes understood what they were doing, if they knew the horror that could and likely would result from the stupid games they played. He did, only too well: knew the monsters that men could become with the right provocation. He knew that since his father his father had fallen sick he was teetering on a razor-thin edge, performing a desperate balancing act to maintain the fragile peace around him. The fear of what would happen when that peace was lost kept him there despite the constant danger. As long as nothing changed, maybe there was a chance to avoid what was coming.

Never had he felt the perils of maintaining his careful neutrality more than he had at that evening's banquet. It had been rumored beforehand that the Emperor might be well enough to attend, and the whispers had prompted a flurry of excited speculation. When Shou Taishi had come with the announcement that the Emperor had taken a turn for the worse and would not be coming after all the tension had been thick enough to cut with a knife. Seien ate next to nothing at the feast, and drank not at all. It hadn't been hard to continuously empty his cup of wine into the succession of soup bowls that were placed before him and then taken away. Time had passed with interminable slowness, and every forced smile felt like a crack in the pottery shell of his face. He had found himself wondering if the meal would ever end, or if he were trapped in some sort of eternal hell where he would be continuously be served excellent food that was too dangerous to eat.

But finally he was released from that too-close, stifling hall into the still summer night. Even outside the air felt thick and viscous as heated tar. His underrobe stuck to his back, and he could feel his hair separating into strands. At least the darkness was a relief, even if nothing else was. A relief, but a threat as well: nothing was without danger. Not even the sound of footsteps whispering rapidly over the stone, not even the soft voice that called to him. "Aniue?"

He was glancing around even as he turned towards his younger brother. The roofed paths that connected the courts to the imperial residences were too open, too vulnerable. They must not be seen together unless it was safe. He fully intended to tell Ryuuki that, but the sight of his brother standing uncertainly in the adjoining hall banished the thought from his head. At eleven his brother was still small for his age, but his childhood roundness was dropping away to reveal an underlying sharpness to his developing features, bones that promised years of gangliness when he hit his growth. Seien tried to remember what he himself had looked like at that age, tried to judge by the now-adult breadth of his own shoulders how Ryuuki would grow. The exercise was impossible, trying to visualize a future when the present was so hard to get through.

He saw Ryuuki falter at the lack of welcome and gave him a small, reassuring smile. It was his first genuine one for the evening, and his brother overmatched it with wholehearted exuberance. Even the heat was no deterrent to his happy hug. "Is the banquet all over with, Aniue?"

"Yes, it's finished." Seien freed his brother's arms from around his waist and crouched down a little so that they were at eye level. "Did you stay in the archives like I told you to?"

"Shouka-san stayed with me. But he seemed very tired. I asked him, and he said that things are getting hard in the city. There isn't enough food and people are hungry and sick. I was worried, so I gave him some of what I took from the kitchens."

"That was very kind of you." Seien straightened his brother's somewhat bedraggled robe without thinking about it, then caught up with what Ryuuki was saying. "Wait, Ryuuki, you snuck into the kitchens tonight?"

"No one saw me! I was very careful. And everybody was busy anyway. I remember you said that the banquet food wasn't safe, so I took it directly from the pots. I didn't touch anything that went out to the hall, or anything that came back." Ryuuki was ticking off the points that Seien had warned him of on his fingers. "I only took things that were too done, that weren't going to be served, and some of the servants' food, and some from the stores-- I didn't take it all from one place, like you told me. But I got a lot! Enough for Shouka and for us! It's in the archives. We can have our own banquet!"

"You did very well," Ryuuki glowed under the praise. His brother's happiness made Seien smile again, but that simple joy came hand-in-hand with fear. "But Ryuuki, remember, sneaking around the kitchens and storehouses is dangerous, too. Somebody might notice and think there's a thief. You have to be careful not to take too much, or too often."

"I know." Ryuuki's eyes slid away from his, guilty, and his smile disappeared. It felt like a pall had come over the sky to Seien. "I know I have to be careful. I am careful."

He forced himself to continue despite it. "It's good that you managed to get a lot, Ryuuki. But we shouldn't eat too much at once. If we eat it a little bit at a time, it will last longer." He wondered as he always did if Ryuuki's recent growth was responsible for his increasingly bony frame, or if it was because of the meager amounts of food they could verify as safe.

"But . . ." Ryuuki glanced upwards again, completely earnest. "But Aniue, aren't you hungry? It seems like you used to eat more. You got thinner, and you always look tired . . ."

Ryuuki's concern felt like a longed-for breeze shifting the still air. It warmed him inside even as he berated himself for making his brother anxious. "It's all right, Ryuuki, you don't need to worry. I'm strong enough to keep us both safe. Come on, have you ever seen me lose a sword fight?"

Ryuuki considered him carefully. "Against Sou-shogun . . ."

That startled an outright laugh out of Seien. "Sou-shogun doesn't count. You'd need an army to beat him; one man could never do it. Against anyone else, have you seen me lose?"

The youngest prince perked up a little. "No, Aniue never loses."

"You see?" Seien grasped Ryuuki by the waist and lifted him high. It cost him in effort, but the expression on Ryuuki's face was worth it and more. "I can lift you just like when you were five, and you're much bigger now!"

Ryuuki wiggled, delighted, until Seien set him back on his feet. "Aniue is bigger, too!"

"That's true." Seien ruffled his hair. "So I can protect us both. Even better than before."

"But that's not fair. Aniue shouldn't have to do everything by himself. I can protect you, too!" Ryuuki drew himself up as tall as he could and tried to puff out his thin chest; the results were comical and Seien had to smother another laugh. "I'm eleven now, so I can help."

"You do a lot already, Ryuuki." Seien reached for his brother's hand. "Remember, you have to take care of yourself first."

Determination shone like a beacon from behind the youngest prince's eyes. "Aniue is always taking care of me. So I should take care of Aniue."

"All right," Seien curled his fingers around Ryuuki's, wondering. Just a few minutes spent with his brother and an entire day's merciless tension seemed to fall away. The danger was no less, but if it was for this everything was worthwhile. He could bear it until Ryuuki was safe again, and much more easily than he could bear denying his brother anything. "I'll be depending on you, then."

"Okay!" Ryuuki started off down the path, tugging his older brother along behind him. "Then first, Aniue needs to eat!"

Seien let himself be pulled. "Ryuuki, why don't we walk through the gardens? There won't be anyone out this late, it would be safer--"

"SEIEN!"

That too-familiar bellow halted him in his tracks. He drew himself up, back tensed, and his fingers tightened spasmodically on Ryuuki's. Ryuuki had stopped too, his glance darting down the corridor behind them, the gold in his eyes darkened by sudden fear. It was not fear that touched Seien, though.

"Yes, I'm talking to you, you bastard upstart. Turn around!"

Seien turned slowly, and pulled Ryuuki close behind him. Shouten stood in the corridor, his broad shoulders heaving from the force of his words. The first and eldest prince was sweating even through the material of his outer robe, and his face was flushed with wine. He moved closer, his steps heavy, swaying slightly. "There you are. I've been looking for you."

Seien's mind registered small details: the alcohol haze in his older brother's muddy green eyes, the straight grey hair so like their father's that fell across his high forehead, lank with sweat. He could smell the sickly-sweet fumes that draped Shouten like a cloak. "Here I am."

Shouten eyed him arrogantly, and Seien noted the way the eldest prince had to tilt his head back in order to look down at him. Once Shouten had been taller, but no longer. Seien tensed again when Shouten's eyes drifted down and caught on Ryuuki, who had shifted to stand so close to Seien's side that he was practically pressed up against him. "Did you pick up a pet somewhere, Seien?" he sneered, and his patrician features twisted into something ugly. "Looks like you found some dirty cur on the street."

It felt like ice was spreading through Seien's limbs, canceling out the summer heat. Anger crept slowly outward from his chest. "Ryuuki is not a dog."

"Is that so? He certainly yelps like one." Shouten moved another step forward, and Ryuuki gripped Seien's arm tightly. Seien could feel him shaking, though he didn't make a sound. "Dogs are only good for beating, didn't anyone tell you that?"

"Ryuuki." Seien wanted to comfort his younger brother, wanted to wipe the smug hatefulness from Shouten's face. He wanted to do anything other than what he was doing: standing as still as stone, with Ryuuki cowered behind him. He felt more than saw when Ryuuki stopped staring at his dangerous eldest brother and turned his eyes up to Seien's face. The second prince couldn't manage a smile for him, not this time: he couldn't take his gaze off of Shouten for so much as a moment. "Go back to your room, Ryuuki."

"But--" Ryuuki hesitated, and Seien's peripheral vision showed him the look that Ryuuki darted at Shouten.

"Quickly, Ryuuki. Go and stay there." Seien shifted slightly to guide his brother behind him and gave Ryuuki's back a gentle but firm shove. Ryuuki gulped, then skittered fast and wide as the hallway would allow around Shouten. The eldest prince swatted at him as he passed, a backhanded cuff that looked deceptively clumsy, but Seien was faster. He caught Shouten's arm, although the force required to stop the blow rocked him and took him off balance.

"Get off me!" Shouten's bearlike shake broke his grip and sent him back a step. "How dare you lay a hand on your elder brother? You think I want to smell like a dog the way you do?"

Seien glared and brushed his hand along his robe as if he had touched something dirty. "Better to smell like a dog than a rotten wine sack," he said, lacing his words with scorn. "And better to be a man who takes care of a dog than a stupid boy who beats one."

"Are you calling me a stupid boy? You think you're clever, don't you?" Shouten's voice, already loud in the quiet, heated air, rose further. "You think you're better than me?"

"I don't _think_ I'm better than you," Seien said, but Shouten was too angry or too drunk to pick up on the implied meaning of Seien's rejoinder.

"You think you're better than me! I've seen you, dammit. Do you think I don't know? Just this morning you contradicted me. In the middle of court, contradicted me!"

"Because you were wrong." Seien felt his breath become increasingly shallow. "You should be thanking me. I stopped you before you made an utter ass of yourself. Maybe now you can conceal the extent of your incompetence for a while longer."

Shouten's face darkened like a thundercloud. "You forget yourself!" he roared. "You think you're smart, but I am the first prince! I am above you, and I always will be! You think you can hide behind your pretty face, you manipulative little snot? I know you've been sneaking around, spreading lies and rumors about me! I'm no fool!"

"Why would I bother?" Seien let some of the ice inside him out to his voice. "It seems like a waste to tell lies about you when the truth is so repulsive already."

"You know what's repulsive? I'll tell you what's repulsive. Everywhere I go, all I hear is Prince Seien! Prince Seien is so accomplished. Prince Seien is so clever. Prince Seien is so perfect. It makes me sick!"

"Well-earned merit is obviously poisonous to your system. Shouldn't you be glad it's my name you hear and not your own? Since you've done nothing to merit praise, you should be glad to escape attention."

Shouten's eyes narrowed. "You simper around the palace and pretend you're so great, playing your stupid lying games. But you're not so perfect, are you? Under that pretty face you're rotten to the core. I remember, you bottom-feeding snake! Five years ago you disappeared-- where were you, eh? Why don't you tell anyone what you were doing?"

The ice in Seien disappeared in a flash of elemental fire. "Don't you dare--"

"I know!" Shouten shouted back. "I know the truth about you, what you were doing in Sa Province! I know that you spent a year bathing in filth and corruption, I know that the perfect Prince Seien is just a lie over a cesspool of murder and deceit. I know you ran like a wolf with the Satsu--"

"You know nothing!" Seien's voice was far beyond his control. "You misbegotten coward, you pathetic excuse for a human being! I could live my life in a pit ten years deep in horse shit and I would still be better than you!" Rage blazed through him as if an inferno roared beneath his skin. It consumed his mind utterly, and his vision narrowed so that all he could see was Shouten's twisted, hate-filled face. "The only thing that has ever been impressive about you is your stupidity! You call yourself a prince? You have to abuse a child just to make yourself feel like a man! And yet you strut around as if you had something to be proud of-- when the only thing you've proven is your cowardice! You, above me? Even hearing me speak your name would be an honor beyond your deserving!"

Shouten roared, his fury at the succession of insults taking him beyond words. He shifted, his hand going under his voluminous sleeve and grabbing the hilt of--

_He has a sword._ The thought moved with perfect clarity through Seien's head, cool and complete over his anger in an instant. _He has a sword. Why did I not notice? He has a sword._

Shouten's arm whipped back, the edge of the blade catching the light, and there was no time to react, the corridor was too narrow for him to dodge, and Shouten's arm came forward--

"_Aniue_!" A small body, a blur of lavender robes, flew from behind one of the red columns and latched on to Shouten's sword arm, stopping his lunge. Seien got one glimpse of Ryuuki's face under his thatch of sandy hair, childish features drawn into a fierce grimace of determination.

Shouten staggered under the force of the impact, his face ugly with frustrated rage. "You worthless brat!"

Seien was trying to run forward, his anger lost to impending horror, but he couldn't seem to move fast enough. Shouten half-turned and whipped his arm backwards, and Ryuuki came loose, staggering backwards along the corridor. Shouten was between them, and Seien couldn't see Ryuuki. But he could see the sword as it came up, wicked point scraping along a beam, and then descended in an instant--

Ryuuki screamed, high and sharp, and Seien's world ended.

Shouten had gone still, staring, dripping sword still in hand. Seien shoved him aside as he scrambled past, terrible fear twisting in his stomach, and the eldest prince didn't protest the insult. A line had been crossed, and even Shouten knew it.

"_Ryuuki!_"

Ryuuki had fallen against a column, and Seien was by him in an instant. He was hunched forward, his face horribly pale and drawn. Both of his small hands were clutching his left thigh tightly, on either side of the long, straight rent that ran from his hip practically to his knee. Already the cloth around the wound was wetly crimson, the stain spreading with every passing second. Ryuuki was crying; helpless, hiccupping sobs that shook his small shoulders.

"Oh, gods, Ryuuki, Ryuuki--" Seien dropped to his knees, not even feeling the shock of hitting the stone. "Let me see, let me see--"

"I'm okay." Ryuuki's voice was tight with pain, each sentence a tiny gasp. "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay."

"It was his own fault!" Shouten was standing over them both, the red-tinged sword still in his hand. His face had also gone pale, the realization of what he'd done banishing his anger and returning him instantly to sobriety. "He interfered! It wasn't my fault!"

"Go and get help, you idiot!" Seien felt his voice rise and break. "Bandages. I need bandages." He tore at his own robe, heedless of the fine cloth. "Ryuuki, you have to let go, you have to let go of your leg. Oh gods, someone help. I can't bandage it, Ryuuki, you have to let go."

Seien gently pried Ryuuki's hands free, desperate words coming and going heedlessly. At some point he knew that Shouten left, but his leaving was utterly unimportant. The only important thing was Ryuuki's red-stained hands clutching at his arms when he freed them. His brother's blood-sodden robe was in the way: he ripped that, too, despite the wet stubbornness of the fabric. He couldn't bear to look at gaping rent in his brother's leg, but he couldn't not look. Ryuuki cried out when Seien lifted his leg to wrap the wound, and the high sound tore at Seien like a claw.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Ryuuki's breathing was ragged, his voice softer, but that was almost worse. "I'm okay."

"I'm going to bring you to the doctor, okay Ryuuki? I'm going to lift you up now. I'm going to bring you to the doctor." Seien swiped at his eyes with one bloody hand; the tears pouring down his cheeks were clouding his vision, and he needed to see. "Just hold on, Ryuuki, hold on."

Ryuuki's fingers fisted on a handful of his brother's robe as Seien cradled the youngest prince to his chest, and ran.


	3. Part 2

Author's note: About time I put up chapter two, don't you think? For once, I have little else to say. Except that I can't wait for the Saiunkoku art book!

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When Doctor Tou had seen who was standing in the door to his rooms at such a late hour the small man's wrinkled face had gone slack with shock. Seien tried to blurt out an explanation, but the words made no sense, and he gave up. "_Help him_!"

The doctor snapped into action. "Inside!" he said succinctly, and Seien was only too happy to have orders to follow.

Ryuuki whimpered when Seien eased him down on the wide bench the doctor indicated, and Seien's gut wrenched. "I'm sorry, Ryuuki, I'm so sorry-- just raise your head a little, just a little--" he lifted Ryuuki's head with one hand, careful so that the hair wouldn't catch, and slid a pillow under. That small task done he stared at his younger brother helplessly, full of a frantic energy that was tearing him apart from within. Ryuuki's eyes were screwed shut, his face as white as new paper.

"I'm okay," he whispered; the litany had become both slower and softer. It did nothing to reassure Seien. Things were so far from okay that he wanted to laugh at the absurdity, but giving voice to the terror inside him would have shaken him to pieces. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

Doctor Tou appeared at his elbow and handed him a shallow bowl full of a milky liquid. "Have him drink this," he instructed.

Seien took it, suddenly suspicious. "What is it? Is it safe?" he sniffed the contents. "It smells foul!"

"By the heavens, Your Highness, I'm a doctor!" Anger touched Tou's voice as he leaned over to cut the red-stained skirt of Ryuuki's robe away. "It will make him sleep, that's all."

"Ryuuki-- here, sit up, sit up just a little, you need to drink this, come on . . ." Seien supported Ryuuki's thin shoulders with one arm and held the rim of the bowl to his brother's mouth. The youngest prince tried to drink but gagged on the bitterness, and Seien soothed him quickly. "All of it, all of it, you're almost there--"

Watching Ryuuki's face relax as the medicine took effect was both a blessed relief and an agony beyond telling. When his eyes fluttered closed, Seien turned where he crouched, then came to his feet in sudden anger. Doctor Tou laid a thin, wickedly sharp knife on the table, then held up a long needle and began threading it with a strange, stiff cord. "What are you doing? What do you need a knife for, isn't he hurt badly enough already?"

"Oh, for the love of--" the doctor raised his eyes to glare, then focused on something behind Seien. "Perfect timing! Get him out of here, I have a patient to attend to."

A large hand gripped Seien's elbow and pulled him around. He snarled and swung, but stopped the motion when his eyes caught and held on General Sou's steely gaze.

"Come, Your Highness. The doctor knows what he's doing. We'll only get in his way." The general was missing his customary hat, and his grey-shot dark hair hung shaggy around his shoulders.

It took a moment for his meaning to become clear to Seien. "But-- no! No, I have to stay with Ryuuki!"

"There's nothing you can do for your brother right now." The general towed him effortlessly in the direction of the door, and Seien was forced to follow or lose his feet. "We should leave Doctor Tou to his work."

"Wait-- let go, I can't leave him alone, it's not safe--" Seien twisted, straining to see his brother. He glimpsed Ryuuki's face, peaceful despite its drawn paleness. Doctor Tou was using the thin knife to slice through the crude, blood-soaked rags of Seien's robes that wrapped his leg, and the long wound beneath was--

Sou shut the door firmly and released Seien's arm. "Your brother is in the best possible hands, Prince Seien. You need not worry on that account. And you and I will stay out here in the hall, where we'll be close but not underfoot." The general easily hefted two chairs from the hallway and set them against the closed door. "Here, have a seat."

Seien sat as Sou lowered himself down into his own chair, but sprang back to his feet only a second later, too restless to stay still. He paced back and forth, and Sou watched him stolidly. "Why don't you tell me what happened, Your Highness?"

Seien tried to force his racing thoughts into something that resembled order. "It was after. After the banquet. Ryuuki came to meet me-- why did he come to meet me? I told him to stay in the archives, why did he come?" The thought was an agony. If only Ryuuki had stayed in the archives-- if only the banquet had ended earlier-- if only he had left before it was finished!

Sou's voice was patient. "So he found you afterwards?"

"We were walking back together. I thought we should walk through the gardens-- I was just saying we should walk through the gardens-- then-- Shouten came, and-- _Shouten_." Just saying his older brother's name sent a wave of rage through Seien, so strong that it clouded the edges of his vision. "I'll kill him. That bastard. With my own hands, I swear it." His fingernails cut into the palms of his hands, but he couldn't loosen his fingers.

"I take it that the esteemed first prince was somehow responsible for your younger brother's wound?" The general's voice was mild, and yet somehow its very calmness served to cut through some of Seien's anger.

"He had a sword. He attacked me. Ryuuki--" Seien wiped at his eyes and noticed for the first time the dried blood that stained his hands. Ryuuki's blood. "He grabbed Shouten, and then-- I should have been the one protecting him! If only I had been faster-- I sent him away, I didn't even notice when he came back!"

"Prince Ryuuki is a very brave boy."

"I failed him. I couldn't protect him. It happened so fast, so fast . . ."

"Prince Seien." The general's tone was stern. "I'm sure there was little you could have done, aside from what you did do-- you brought His Highness to someone who could help him. Self recriminations serve no purpose and will not change what happened."

At that moment a servant skidded around the corner of the hallway. The man nearly fell in his hurry to halt when he saw Seien, and his eyes went wide.

Sou rose to his feet when Seien tensed. "I'll deal with this," he said, and went to talk to the man.

Seien paced back and forth in front of the door. His breathing slowed, gradually, and with it his racing thoughts. Worry for Ryuuki was foremost in his mind. He replayed the encounter with Shouten over and over again; saw again his older brother sending Ryuuki staggering back down the hall and the merciless descent of the sword. Felt again the thick slipperiness of Ryuuki's blood between his fingers as he wrapped the long sword-cut. He forced himself to think of it, even as his stomach twisted and roiled. It had been long, nearly the entire length of Ryuuki's thigh. Deep, too, though it had been hard to tell with so much blood welling up.

A sword wound like that was a grave injury. Would Ryuuki be able to recover? Air rasped in the back of Seien's throat and he choked. Suddenly a thousand memories poured through his head: Ryuuki's light footfalls as he eagerly ran towards Seien; Ryuuki tripping over the too-long hem of his robe and then recovering with a laugh; Ryuuki shuffling his feet through the fallen leaves in the garden; Ryuuki chasing a sheet of practice writing stolen by the wind. Were they memories only, now? Would Ryuuki run again, shuffle his feet, explore the gardens he loved so much? Would Ryuuki even be able to leave his bed?

The sound of the door opening brought him around in an instant. Doctor Tou stood in the doorway, wiping his hands carefully on a towel. Spatters of red marred his sleeping robe: Seien hadn't noticed that Tou wasn't dressed when he had arrived, too frantic over the precious burden in his arms. "How is he?" he demanded, feeling Sou's solid presence returned at his elbow, quietly supportive.

"He's sleeping. A very bad cut, but at least it was straight. I've cleaned the wound and sewn it closed, and the bleeding has mostly stopped."

The wrinkles that seamed Tou's face seemed deeper, somehow, and he looked very tired and worried. Seien's heart twisted. "Will he recover?" he asked, dreading the answer. "Will Ryuuki be able to walk again?"

"I can't say," Tou said heavily. "But the important question right now isn't whether or not the young prince will walk. It's whether or not he'll live."

The world went very still and silent around Seien. His voice, when it came, didn't sound like it was his. "What?"

"He is weaker than he should be, and I do not like the look of the wound. There is too much redness, too much swelling. A heat has entered through it and moved to his lungs. He's taken a fever, and it's getting worse." Tou shook his head. "Any one of these things is bad, but all of them together? The signs are not good."

"He was cut on the leg," everything that Seien could see was sharply defined, the contrast between shadow and light shockingly extreme. "Men recover from leg wounds all the time."

"Men, Your Highness. Not eleven-year-old boys. The shock to his system is profound, and he lost a great deal of blood. If I can restore his equilibrium-- if he can survive the next few days, then it is likely that--"

The words stopped making sense. Seien pushed heedlessly past Doctor Tou and walked into the room beyond. The doctor had moved Ryuuki to the bed, and the youngest prince's tangled hair was carefully arranged to one side of the pillow. He had been covered with a blanket, hiding his injured leg and the ruin of his robes. There was a flush to his cheeks that contrasted sharply with his unhealthy pallor, and even though he slept, his breathing was short and faintly uneven.

There was a firm hand on his arm again, but Seien barely noticed. He couldn't even manage to be grateful when that hand caught him as his knees gave out and guided him into a chair. Someone was speaking to him, but the voice was just a strange buzzing in the background. His entire existence had narrowed to the faint sound of air being drawn and released, the near-imperceptible rise and fall of a narrow chest.


	4. Part 3

Author's Note: So, um. Due to the first chapter of this fic being a posting of the Omnia timeline, I thought I had posted this chapter when actually I hadn't. Oops? Sorry about the long delay, peoples! Hopefully now you won't kill me. Or considering the chapter, and the fact that it is the last one for this fic, you might just kill me more.

* * *

Shou paused outside the door to Tou's quarters. They weren't properly Tou's at the moment, of course. The doctor himself had decided that his young charge should stay so that Tou could keep a close eye on him, and so all his herbs and supplies would be within easy reach. He had made a personal report that morning at Shou's request, and prospects had been grim. "The young prince is very badly off," he had said, looking every one of his years. "The wound is infected, and he is burning with fever. I'm doing everything I can, but I'm not sure it will be enough."

Shou had laced his fingers together, his mouth set in a grim line. "And how is Prince Seien?"

"He will not leave his brother's side and has allowed no one near, other than myself and General Sou. He even sent away the servants and insists on tending to his brother with his own hands. He is--" Tou had paused, reconsidered, then shook his head. "That is, I never would have believed it, from the things I've heard. But after watching the second prince this past night, I fear for his sanity if we lose the boy. In all my years, I've never seen a man so affected before."

Sou had not added anything constructive when Shou had found him in the gardens with a carafe of the bad plum wine he'd developed a taste for as a young soldier. He had only grunted in response to Shou's acerbic remark about drinking before lunch, and had been very short in outlining his understanding of what had occurred between the three princes the previous night.

"You might have outfoxed yourself this time, old man," he finished.

Shou had raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Wiley bastard. But it's gone too far now. We could very well lose them both to a single night's bad work." Sou had left then, and taken his bottle off with him.

To a certain extent Shou knew that the rebuke was well-deserved, but this particular turn of events was something he never would have anticipated. There had been no warning that things would so suddenly come to a head: quarrels between the princes were certainly not rare occurrences. And while he had been pushing matters somewhat, for the most part he had been willing to wait until his conditions were met.

That he might have waited too long and proven himself immaturely overconfident was an utterly unpalatable irony.

The sky was turbulent with dark clouds when the servant had knocked on the door to his rooms, blotting out both sun and moon. They flashed warningly overhead as he had made his way through the hallways to answer the message the man had brought. Now he stood before the closed door to Doctor Tou's rooms. He did not bother to knock, not in answer to so late and preemptory a summons. The room beyond lay mostly in shadow, obscuring the medical charts on the walls and the neat chests of herbs. A single candle burned on the table beside the bed, and its illumination didn't spread so far. It was enough to show the face of the boy who lay in the bed, though, and the weak light glinted off the pale hair of the man who sat beside.

Prince Ryuuki looked every bit as bad as Tou's report had led him to expect. His mouth was open, and the sound of his breathing was loud and rasping in the quiet air. He was not sleeping peacefully, and his head tossed back and forth under the influence of fever dreams. The cloth that lay across his brow slid off when he turned to land on the pillow beside him.

Seien's face wasn't visible, lost in the shadow thrown by the candle. In contrast to his brother he was terribly still, with a fierce intensity that charged the air around him. His shoulders were stiff with the tension that thrummed through him. Yet his hands were gentle as he lifted the cloth and returned it to his brother's forehead, soft and careful when he took up Ryuuki's limp fingers again.

It was a waiting game, but after being summoned Shou had no intention of playing. "Prince Seien," he began. "Doctor Tou spoke to me about Prince Ryuuki's condition. I must say that—"

"I'm taking the throne." Seien spoke the words as casually and as simply as if he were commenting on the weather. "I will require your support."

Shou concealed his surprise at the bold audacity of the second prince's statement. Seien had always been careful, choosing his words and replies to avoid giving offense. But now they were as sharp and straightforward as a barred blade. "Your Highness speaks very forcefully, perhaps moreso than you intend."

"No more games. Not anymore. This has gone on long enough—no, for too long." He spoke grimly, and moved not at all. "Things will never again return to the way they were. The only choice now is to go forward, and to do that I need you. You're the only one who has the power to return the courts to order in my father's absence."

Shou raised an eyebrow, unable to help himself. The prince was holding nothing back, not blunting his words in the least, and obviously expected the same in return. "Indeed, you are correct. I'm only surprised that you've approached me."

"Because none of the others have? They don't dare. Or they don't realize. But I do. I won't ask why you haven't moved before now; I doubt you would tell me in any case." He shook his head slightly. "It doesn't matter, as long as you help me to rebuild the courts and return the country to order."

"Your Highness forgets the other princes."

"I have forgotten nothing." Despite the gentleness of his fingers around Ryuuki's small hands, Seien's knuckles were white with strain. "Shouten has already proven himself a traitor by his sword. The others are mired to their necks in the same filth. It wants only to be brought to light."

"It won't be easy. Power alone is not enough to change the current balance." _I can't help you with that._ Nor would he, if he could.

"I will do whatever it takes."

Shou folded his hands inside his sleeves. "It seems Your Highness has experienced a drastic change of heart since we last spoke."

He left it at that, knowing that the prince would hear the unvoiced request for reasons. Seien did not disappoint him; when he spoke his voice was low. "Ryuuki will never be safe until I am the heir and the others are gone. I see that now. I only wish I'd seen it sooner. I will not rest until I've made a world where he can be safe."

Something clicked home inside Shou's chest, like a key turning inside a lock. Certainty surged through him, swift and exultant. "You know that there are only two possible outcomes for your other brothers. Exile, or the headsman's block."

"I have only one brother," Seien said harshly, his head coming up. His eyes when they met Shou's were colder than steel frozen in winter ice. "Anyone who hurts him is my enemy."

That one look was all it took. Shou bowed his head and raised his folded arms before his chest in an ancient, courtly gesture. "My Lord."

Seien nodded once, sharply, and set Ryuuki's hand down carefully on the blanket before coming to his feet. "Ran Shuuei is waiting for us in the archives."

That was almost enough to startle a laugh out of Shou at the prince's perfect audacity. "I see Your Highness has already started making plans."

"I don't have time for foolishness."

"Indeed." Shou's eyes went to the boy who lay in the bed, and he reached out one dry, wrinkled hand and laid it against Ryuuki's burning cheek. Just that one touch told him everything he needed to know—it was the sixth prince who was running out of time, for all of them. "Let us not keep him waiting."

Seien led the way outside. He hesitated a moment on the threshold of the room, glancing back at Ryuuki's fever-flushed face. When he turned back, his mouth was set grimly, and coldness radiated from him in waves that cut through the heat of the turgid, stormy summer night. "I want this door guarded by four men at all times," he ordered the soldier standing ready outside. "No one is to enter without my personal permission save Doctor Tou, General Sou, and Shusui."

The man attempted to babble some kind of request for confirmation, since the royal princes did not have the authority to issue commands to the Uringun, but Prince Seien was already walking down the corridor. Shou nodded to the guard instead. "See to it," he said. "And then send a runner out to the city immediately with an urgent summons for Doctor Yoh."

Shou glanced out at the rain pouring from the tumultuous clouds, his jaw clenched. He would not lose, not to a dirty sword and a fever. Not when he was so close to winning all.


End file.
